Buying a new pet is supposed to a joyous time in a person’s life but fraudulent sites seem to be clogging up the puppy buying business and the Better Business Bureau says it isn’t getting any better.

In the past three years, the Better Business Bureau says it has received around 10,000 complaints about puppy scams where 59 percent of cases never got the dog, as reported by Steven Baker, who spent 30 years working with the Federal Trade Commission before working with the BBB.

“I think anybody that goes looking online for a puppy, if you look at more than one or two places, you’re going to run across a fraud site,” Baker said. “It’s that bad.”

Thanks to PetScam, the steps on how someone gets caught in a puppy scam are carefully laid out.

According to the site, scammers usually post next to breeders on social media, classified advertisement websites and on other search engines, such as Facebook and Craigslist. So, how can you spot a fake website from a genuine one?

One of the main ways to note a fraud is the pet pricing. Incredibly low prices can be a tipoff for a rip-off.

If you can’t identify a scam based off the price, just ask for the seller’s credentials. Simply seeing the American Kennel Association branding on the website isn’t enough.

Most of the time, pet scammers will only use texting or emailing as means of communication, which could be another clue.

PetScam says being asked to send the money via an anonymous wire transfer is a red flag as well. Places like Western Union, Moneygram, Walmart or even iTunes vouchers have been used in the past.

Some scammers even set up a shipping website, reports PetScam, that gives customers a fake tracking number.

If you believe you have been involved in a puppy scam or any other kind of pet scam, click here to report.